Michelle Goldberg wrote a piece in the New York Times the other day (linked below) claiming the usual anti-Jewish thing: anti-Zionism ain't anti-semitism. Yeah right. And the fact that she's Jewish cuts no ice. Many an American Jew is anti-Israel to the tune of anti-semitism. Well meaning and all that they may be.
To the extent that the BDS movement seeks to deny Israel's right to exist — and it does, overtly or not — it's by definition anti-Semitic.
So here's the rebuttal to Goldberg, from David Harris. It's familiar. But needs repeating. And repeating.
Good on the Times for running this rebuttal. Though it doesn't appear in the print edition as far as I can see.
Re "Anti-Zionism Isn't the Same as Anti-Semitism," by Michelle Goldberg (column, nytimes.com, Dec. 7):
If anti-Zionism isn't a form of anti-Semitism, what is? To deny the Jewish people, of all the peoples on earth, the right to self-determination surely is discriminatory, all the more so 71 years after the United Nations General Assembly voted to recommend the creation of a "Jewish" state. And if the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (B.D.S.) movement isn't another form of anti-Semitism, what is?
To single out Israel, the only liberal democracy in the Middle East, for demonization and isolation, while ignoring egregious human rights violators aplenty, once again smacks of anti-Jewish hatred. After all, the very same B.D.S. movement does not even focus on the mistreatment of Palestinians in the Arab world, including the thousands killed and imprisoned in the Syrian carnage, the many professional fields closed to Palestinians in Lebanon, or the internecine wars between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. If Israel is not involved, the B.D.S. movement has no interest.
Nor does it take into account the many efforts by Israel to forge a peace deal with the Palestinians, beginning 70 years ago, only to be spurned time and again.
Criticize Israeli policies? Sure. It's done every day in Israel itself by the media, nongovernment groups, and in the Knesset. But that's a far cry from treating Israel differently from any other country in the world, which is at the core of the anti-Zionist and B.D.S. outlook. The American Jewish Committee says it is no different from anti-Semitism.
David Harris
New York
The writer is chief executive of the American Jewish Committee. [link here]
New York
The writer is chief executive of the American Jewish Committee. [link here]
